


Sparks Fly

by toesohnoes



Category: Lost
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-14
Updated: 2011-09-14
Packaged: 2017-10-23 18:15:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/253394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toesohnoes/pseuds/toesohnoes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Jacob tries to touch his brother after he comes back, he receives an electric shock. That isn't enough to deter him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sparks Fly

**Author's Note:**

> I use the fanon name "Esau" for The Man in Black because I still can't get used to "Samuel".

He can't stop staring at his brother's face. Moments ago, the clearing had been filled with black, billowing smoke. Now in its place there is Esau, a familiar smirk on his face, black and white peppered through his hair.

"You're alive," Jacob breathes.

His brother is _alive_.

He laughs in open delight until happy creases form around his eyes. Stretching out his arms, he steps forward to hug his brother - but Esau steps back.

Esau looks at his feet and then examines his hands, turning them back and forth before his eyes and waggling his fingers. A frown of concentration is painted on his face, but he doesn't give Jacob a second glance. It's like Jacob isn't there.

Jacob's arms lower inch by inch. "Brother?"

Esau looks up, his blue eyes far away. It's as if he's never seen Jacob before. For all Jacob's joy at seeing him again, a prickle of discomfort scurries up his spine. He can hardly forget the circumstances of the last time they had encountered one another.

"It's me. Jacob," he says.

He steps forward and this time Esau doesn't back away. He glares at him like a wild animal evaluating a trap. "You killed me," Esau says slowly. The words stumble out as if he is still trying to remember what they mean.

Jacob freezes. His fingers curl against his palm. "I was angry," he croaks. "I didn't - I shouldn't..."

"I'm stronger now." Esau looks up at the cloudless blue sky. It is as if he can see for eternity.

Jacob reaches out for him, placing his hand on his upper arm - but as soon as he touches down, lightning sparks through him. It flashes from Esau's arm up through his palm to his chest. Jacob jerks back.

"What was that?" he asks. He can hardly breathe.

Esau looks at him with eyes as endless as the sun. "I'm stronger now," he repeats.

Jacob can still feels sparks shooting through his entire body. It's like his fingers are on fire and bleeding. It is power, raw and undiluted.

The jungle around him roars as if it is an alive, wounded creature. jacob covers his ears with his hands but it doesn't do anything to block out the noise.

Before his eyes, Esau's form collapses like a paper doll. Black smoke billows around his body to block it from view. The pillar bursts upwards and strikes for the sky, rushing with all the power of a rain-swelled river.

And Esau is gone.

Jacob stares at the empty space where his brother shoulder be. Around him, trees have been uprooted and alarmed creatures are on the move. His fingers still ache and tingle from the intoxicating blast of contact. Blisters form. He needs to know more.

*

Humans come to the island from time to time, like they always do. Jacob watches as their clothing changes and their transport advances. Time marches on.

Technology becomes stranger and stranger - but almost all of it ceases to work as it should here on the island. Jacob watches as the survivors shout and argue, frustrated out of their civilisation.

"How long are you going to keep doing this?" Esau is by his side in a swirl of smoke. Jacob tries not to look towards him.

"As long as it takes."

Esau snorts in derision. Static electricity floats in the air around him like an invisible aura, tingling against Jacob's skin. It intensifies in a rush of power - and then Esau is gone again, leaving Jacob with his thoughts and his broken survivors.

When they have moved further away from their crashed vessel, he creeps towards it. It is like no boat that he has seen before, constructed from metal instead of wood; he can't pretend to know how such a thing would stay afloat. He flatters his palm against the bashed hull.

He follows the smooth plane of metal to the capsized cabin. Everything is at the wrong angle, lying on its side, but Jacob manages to crawl inside. The arguing humans don't notice him.

The inside of the ship is metallic as well. There are so many dials and levers that Jacob can't make sense of it. This isn't a boat at all like the others that have crashed on his island.

Behind him, there is a loud crack. He spins around and finds wires hanging from the ceiling, spitting sparks. He's only seen sparks like that in the sky as lightning. He stares at them wide-eyed as they hiss and spill forth.

He reaches out with outstretched fingers, unable to stop himself. The sparks sing towards him and dance onto his fingertips.

It bites like the fangs of a dragon.

He jerks back and shakes his hand in surprise. That hurt.

His fingers are red but they won't stay that way for long. The island's energy will see that he is protected. His hand aches, but it an ache he remembers - it feels the same way that it does when he tries to touch Esau. Tingling, burning, painful.

He reaches for the sparks once more.

It hurts again. It's like being truly alive. He stays longer than he should, enchanted, imagining that this is how it might feel to hold his brother's hand.

*

Sometimes he leaves the island, though he knows that Esau hates him for it. There are matters that require his attention on the main land, and he can't trust Richard with everything. It's more than that, of course. He needs the escape.

The island is his home - he would never want to leave it. Yet every spot on that island holds a dozen memories of himself and his brother. Every tree, every cliff, every cave... The years have been long. For such a long time, Esau has been his only constant companion. There is nothing there that they haven't shared with one another.

The outside world is vast and unknowable, filled with people to meet and cogs to arrange. All that it takes is a prod in the right direction and all his dominoes fall down.

Tonight he finds himself in a hotel room, watching the twinkling lights of the city beyond his window. The world has lit up since the last time he visited. Gone are the gas-lamps and flickering candles that used to light the way. The streets buzz with electricity.

 _Electricity._

The word itself thrums inside his mind like a dangerous caress. He knows what it is - he knows that the charge that makes those lights glow is the same charge that Esau wields like a weapon, the same sharp sparks that he uses to defend himself.

Jacob longs to reach out and touch it all, to feel the pain shooting through his limbs, but this world has done all that it can to make its power safe. Esau has never even attempted to take safety into account.

Jacob stands and moves to the window, staring out at a city that thrives on the same power that his brother wields. He takes stock of all that is spread before him, and contrasts it with the faintest brush of his brother's skin.

It hardly compares.

*

"You've been gone a long time," Esau complains when Jacob returns.

Sitting in their cliff-side cave, their no-man's land of peace, Jacob smiles and nods. Esau pads forward on bare feet and sits beside him, their legs hanging over the edge of the cliff. Far below, waves crash against rock. The sound is like a static hiss.

"Do you miss me?" Jacob asks, though he knows that he should swallow the words. "When I'm gone, I mean. You're alone."

Esau's gaze is blue and unknowable. Sometimes it leaves Jacob wondering if this is really his brother at all or if it is merely some strange _thing_ wearing his face. He doesn't think that he wants to know the answer.

"I'm always alone," Esau answers, looking away from him, back out to the limitless ocean. "Even when you're here I'm on my own."

"That isn't true."

"You don't have my back," Esau explains. "All you care about is keeping me trapped here. You're my jailer, not my friend."

"I'm your brother," Jacob corrects. He wants to shake Esau until he understands that Jacob doesn't have a choice in all of this - but it wouldn't make a difference. Nothing has ever been able to change Esau's mind. "I'm here. I want to be..."

He doesn't know what to say. He wants to tell Esau that they are supposed to be at each other's sides; they are twins, it was always supposed to be this way. He knows if he says a word that Esau will sneer and refuse to listen.

He nudges his hand into the gap between them instead, crossing inches as if they are dangerous miles. When the side of his palm touches the edge of Esau's hand, he feels the warning buzz of static electricity against his skin. It steals his breath for a moment, the threat, the danger. With one harsh shove Esau could push him over the cliff edge and send him soaring into the sea below.

He'd survive. The island would make sure of it.

That doesn't mean it wouldn't hurt.

"What are you doing?" Esau asks, but he doesn't pull his hand away.

Jacob allows his hand to edge closer, over the back of Esau's until he can close his fingers around it and hold on tightly. The charge is more intense than he could have imagined: more than static, more than sticking his fingers into a sea of sparks. This shoots through his entire body and attacks every muscle. He thinks he might throw up if his body doesn't stop burning, like everything is frying from the inside out.

Esau turns his hand over, pressing palm to palm, and the electricity stops.

Jacob can breathe again.

He heaves air into his lungs and feels it like cool, quenching water. His limbs gradually begin to feel like his own once more.

"You shouldn't touch me without asking first," Esau says, without a hint of emotion or concern in his voice. "I get defensive."

Jacob looks down at their hands, linked in the space between them.

It's worth a little pain, he thinks.

It's worth a lot.


End file.
